Stormchaser's Story
by Stormchaser8
Summary: Hey guys this is a story about my oc (No he is not an OP character or does he supposed to replace one of the mane 6) This is a story of a pony who grew up in Canterlot and his troubles as a non-unicorn. He later joins the royal guard and tries to help his family while pleasing his unicorn superiors. Storm sees some canon episodes from another angle. Please tell me if you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 Canterlot isn't what you think

*Celestia's sun has vanished from the sky leaving Luna to take her shift. Stars blink quietly to themselves and the arctic wind screams at anything left in its path. A group of ponies sit by a fire inside. Having finished their meal it is time to catch up on the daily gossip and small talk for the day. But tonight boasts something different. A story, a biography of sorts. Four ponies gather around a table close to the fire, leaving a notable glow on one side of their face. Two of the ponies are made of flesh while the other two are made of crystal, the fire sparkling off of the crystal ponies creating an unfathomably beautiful pattern on the ceiling. One of the crystal ponies begins the conversation, remnants of his dinner still spilling out of his mouth.*

"Hey Storm, I saw you in the yard today. You fight like a monster out there—"The other crystal pony interrupts him "Yeah! I'm sure glad you're on our side!" The first pony continues his sentence pushing the excitable pony back onto his spot on the bench. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" A red coated Pegasus waves the question away with his hoof saying "It's too long of a story you don't want to hear it." The crystal pony replies by pointing to the outside "You think we are going anywhere? Even we crystal ponies freeze up in this sort of whether and we won't be given any shifts till morning light. Besides, we barely get anyone new up here it will be nice to hear a new story." The Pegasus smiles, the fire leaving a strange effect on his mane that makes the fire seem as though it emanates from his body. "Alright then. Really the story begins from where I was born. Canterlot."

Canterlot, any pony that sees its majestic walls are amazed from the moment they enter to the moment they leave. Built into a mountain the castle of the two sisters, which is actually one sister at the current time, shadows the rest of the city. In the light you see the high end, mainly powerful and rich unicorns. This is also where the train for the capital enters, leaving tourists with the best image. But to run a capital you need twenty ponies for every rich unicorn. This leaves the rest of the city built lower and living in the shadow of the castle wherever they step. That is where I was born. A half-blooded unicorn I was born with the wings of a Cloudsdale Pegasus quite like my Dads. I was born in this lower end of Canterlot, living in the working class it can seem nice as the Princesses don't rule with an iron hoof on anypony. Yet while this brings some comfort it can also be a hindrance. While every unicorn need twenty other ponies working for him/her there are thirty living in these lower end neighbourhoods. You do the math and find out that leaves ten ponies unemployed and fighting for survival. My mum and dad cared for me the best I could but I wasn't able to do much. There was not non-magic education in the city even though 90% of its populace was non-unicorn. This meant that the unicorns got all the education they required while the rest of us struggled to master half of our unique abilities.

While attending magic school pegasi and earth ponies do whatever they can to gain an education on their abilities. At night they run classes for pegasi and earth ponies on topics such as flying and machine work as well as horticulture and weather patterns. These classes were run entirely by volunteers using gifts as props and teaching equipment. We had many special guests such as the wonder bolts to teach the pegasi fillies flying and members of the apple family to teach horticulture. It was not that education for non-unicorns were illegal in Canterlot. The problems came down to economics and the balance of money. The rich unicorns loved helping out the disadvantaged of their own kind but "Could not afford to acquire specialized equipment to help other species of ponies" while simultaneously buying a meal expensive enough to run their own small town. During the day at magic kindergarten, I, a slender pegasi would sometimes be asked to provide a demonstration on my advancements in magical abilities. I think even you can see how that debacle ended up, either in tears or harsh "Non-filly" words. I was finally kicked out of magic school for showing disrespect to teachers about their teaching methods. I felt ashamed for disappointing my parents who shoved what little money they had at this opportunity for a formal education, but the day I left for the final time I could see the largest, most relieved smile on their face.

After I left magic school I worked from home. During most days Mum would teach me basics like words, writing and numbers as she gained a formal education (Being a unicorn helped) and at night I would attend the flying classes as well as learning possible new and varying skills. On weekends I would fly with Dad and he would teach me weather patterns and how pegasi control the weather, that being his job during the week. I was lucky enough to be an only filly so I didn't have anypony else to contend with my routine. This worked up until my teens when Dad said I should learn proper flight at Cloudsdale. He explained that the flying college regularly came to watch the night classes here and that I was good enough to be accepted with a Canterlot scholarship. I was excited to no avail but the news also frightened me to my core. This would be my first time away from my mum and dad and it would prove to be the hardest.


	2. Chapter 2 Getting down to flying up

Now Cloudsdale. Every pony in Equestria knows of the city in the clouds. I had heard the stories of the great pegasi flyers. I had seen the wonderbolts in face-to-face. But I can still remember the shock I had when I first saw the city, it wasn't just the city in the clouds, it was the city of clouds. Everything was fluffy, light and sparkled with colour. It was an immense task to take it all in. The blinding white clouds were trouble as the five of us pegasi land very carefully, unsure on whether we will fall straight through. Once we finally set hoof on the soft surface three of the ponies who are good friends go running off together. I am left with one teal green pegas,i he sighs as we say goodbye to our parents. Once they go we are left on the edge of Cloudsdale staring over the seemingly impossible edge. Together we sit for what seems like hours even though we know we have to be somewhere soon to get into the college. I stop staring into the sky below for a second and ask. "So… What's your name?" He blows some of his mane out of his eyes before replying "Float" I nod before going back to staring. I can see him slowly turning towards me before asking "Do you have a name?" I break my gaze from home and give Float a smile "I'm Storm" I hold my hoof out and thankfully he shakes it. I take a deep breath and sigh not sure what to say next. Am I awkward? I wonder what he likes. Luckily a third party breaks this awkward silence. I pretty mare walks past us and we both find ourselves staring as she goes. Once the mare is out of site we both turn back to each other, we are both notably impressed. I put on the coolest face I can and say "I think I'm going to enjoy this place." I later learn that this is not necessarily the case. Yet it was the perfect icebreaker as we both walk towards the college laughing.

Inside the gates we see many pegasi our age. They all walked or flied around doing their daily activities while Float and I stood wondering about how many there were. I steel myself and begin to walk towards the main building. It was intricately architected like the castle in Canterlot but instead of stone and metal it was made out of clouds. Inside was much the same but furniture made of wood and stone were dotted throughout the interior. I spot the three other ponies of our group and we join them as they wait outside of an office. In a couple of minutes we are ushered inside past a table with a mare writing on one of the stacks of paper with what seems like names of students at a quick glance. Past another doorway is an office and an older pony sits at a desk. He is a dark blue in colour and his mane is white now. I wonder what colour it was in his youth. He looks up from a letter he is writing to see us all standing in a horizontal line near the door unsure of what to say. He looks at each one of us carefully before saying "You are the Canterlot group aren't you?" I look along the line of ponies waiting for them to respond. In the silence I ready myself to speak but the older pony interrupts my courage. "You're a shy lot huh?" My courage still remains and I just change my planned sentence "This is all a very new experience for us. We were just commenting on how we had never seen as many pegasi in our lives." The older pony smiles at this "Yes, many of the groups we bring in from Canterlot are quite surprised at Cloudsdale, in fact some of them never even knew the city existed." It seems as though I have become leader of our little group so I continue to talk. "It's not like we are taught about it very much in Magic school. I could tell you who laid every damn brick in Canterlot though." I rise a chuckle out of the old pony and he stands out from his desk. "It is unfortunate about the state of education in Canterlot." He walks up to me and looking me straight in the eye. he asks "And what would be you name young colt?" I force myself to stand up straighter and match his stare, this moment felt eventful even though I was just saying my name. "My name is Storm Chaser" Silence comes to the office for a few seconds before the old pony smiles. "With a strong attitude like yours, you can go far here."

We begin to walk through the halls of the college. The pony who I now know is headmaster Astral leads us, giving us a tour on the college's facilities and its history. "You see, the Cloudsdale College was the first one built here. Our sister the wonderbolts academy is known to be more prestigious and therefore pegasi fillies clamour to fill its spots. But that means we can be more selective with our students." The old pony points to multiple paintings across the top of the walls "Cloudsdale College and Cloudsdale has the longest military history out of any species of pony. Cloudsdale College has taught some of the fiercest fighters in this history. One of the saying among these ponies was that while the officers were taught to fly at Wonderbolts academy the ponies who actually fought were taught to fly here." He stops outside a room that leads to the back field "I hope that all of you can continue this ethos we have received." I nod to the old pony, I feel confident even though he has likely conducted the tour thousands of times and he is merely like an actor on stage reading his lines. I am ready to get stuck into learning and practicing flying. Headmaster Astral can sense this and begins with his welcoming smile "I'm sure you are all excited to begin, luckily our first lesson is something physical, follow me all of you." We are led out the back to a field of clouds where a group of ponies had gathered around a pony wearing a cap. Astral walks us up to him and waves his hoof across our line "This here is the Canterlot group coming in for their first lesson." The pony in the cap nods and gives us a similar welcoming smile. It's almost creepy how similar it is. "Hello there guys. I am Nimble Astral and I'm taking you for physical activities and lying practice." Thank would be it, Nimble is he headmasters son. The lightbulb gives me a small rush of joy as I feel almost like a detective. Nimble continues to talk to us "While you learn advanced flying techniques in the classroom this is the place you practice them. Since this is only the beginning of the year we will be doing some basic review and some games to keep you guys alert."

Headmaster Astral takes his leave and we are left in the hooves of Nimble. We are put into groups for a game of pegasi hoofball. Everypony lines up and gets ready to play. On the other side of the line to me I see a giant brute of a pony. He is set like Canterlot's mountain and a dark brown in colour. He is staring me down with his eyes. I am not deterred by this and meet his stare. Nimble blows the whistle and I watch the ball come sailing directly towards me. I catch it but by the time I look up all I see is a dark brown shoulder. I feel him hit me and I go spinning off down to the cloud below. The landing is soft but the pain from my jaw throbs enough for me to have hit stone. The ball rolls off my hoof and the game continues without me. I look up to see the brown colt standing over me. He spits the words "Bucking cheating Canterlot shits. Don't get up and you won't be hurt again today." He flies off and I am soon met with Nimble looking over me. "Are you ok? Can you hear me?" I push myself to my hooves and fiddle with my jaw, I soon hear a small click and the pain subsides almost immediately. I nod to Nimble saying "I've walked on stone all my life, I've had worse." Nimble replies "Are you sure, you can go and get it looked at." His eyes show concern for me but I put on my best confident face and say "I'm fine…But thanks" It's strange for me to have a teacher show concern, but I could get used to it just fine.

The brown pony wasn't kidding about the pain. Everytime the ball comes near my possession all I see are shoulders and hooves from the brown pony and what I could only assume are his friends. I am knocked around from one end to the other, leaving the game open for my teammates who win by a large margin. After our game we go into some wash-up rooms. While I nurse my eye which has already begun to colour in the distinct shape of a hoof I hear some pony step up behind me. I look up and the mirror confirms my suspicions. The brown pony begins by repeating what the first words he said to me. "Bucking cheating Canterlot shits!" I turn around saying "What the buck does that even mean?" The brown pony leans in closer and points to my bruised eye. "It means hay-for-brains that you all get here for free while we all struggle to pay the fees!" I hold my ground "Well in case you ignorant bastards haven't noticed us over in Canterlot struggle to learn to fly at all! We can't even get basic lessons for fillies!" The brown pony laughs and gains back-up from his buddies before saying "In the capital? There's so much money around there they use it to fill in holes they shit in!" I copy his laugh to mock him before replying "True, if you have a horn growing out of your head! Ponies see wings in Canterlot and ask when they are returning back to Cloudsdale!" The brown pony is growing tired of my resilience so he asks me while pounding his front hooves together. "You have balls for a frilly Canterlot filly. What name would you like on your headstone?" Shitcoat as I now call him in my head and his gang don't scare me so I use what limited of a formal education I got and mount an equally powerful response. "Storm Chaser, and while you're at it why don't you give me the name of your marefriend so I know what bitch to fuck when you're run out of Equestria!" Shitcoat has now seen red and his hoof comes towards my head. I duck and his hoof connects with the fluffy cloud wall behind me. While he pulls it out of the wall I jump up and spit in his ear. I am left with Shitcoat's two friends. I pick the leanest one and barrel my way through and into the outdoors. It doesn't take much to lose the other one as he is as stupid as Shitcoat is strong. I work my way back inside and find my way to my accommodation. All the while with the largest smile on my face I have ever had.


	3. Chapter 3 It's not the fall

My next few days allowed me to settle in. Shitcoat didn't want to mess with me after being humiliated in front of everypony in the wash-up room. I made friends with many of the other ponies who I am grouped with, including Float. The two of us got along famously and we soon became nearly inseparable. Unfortunately Shitcoats humiliation soon turned into anger and I was #1 on his shit list. After a lesson on how to control turns at high speed, I am walking along back to my room. The inside of our building is entirely wood based, a stark contrast to the fluffy ancient cloud based building which is the main centre of the college. The deep green carpet has small pictures detailing famous pegasi throughout history in bright gold. I am staring at the carpet intently as I walk along, trying to match up the pictures to ponies I can remember from history, so I don't notice Shitcoat until I run into the front of him. I look up and see Shitcoat's face as it really is, his teeth warrant the name I've given him and his breath gives swamps a run for their bits. He opens his mouth to say something. I interrupt him by waving my wing in front of my face saying "Phew! You do realise ponies have invented toothpaste right?" Shitcoat screws up his face and says "You're coming for a walk." I look behind me and see no-pony. I could start a scuffle but I can hardly trust my neighbours to help me out against a formidable foe like Shitcoat and his friends. So I relent and follow his gang out the door and around the back of the building. We now stand on the edge of the clouds and I can see down into the darkness which is the fields below Cloudsdale. I nearly trip over into the abyss as Shitcoats gang pushes me back. I look up to his face and he finally speaks "Storm, your words in the wash room really hurt my feeling did you know that?" Shitcoat looks at me dead in the eyes, he wears a sinister smile. I hold myself up for now and try my hoof at my now, famous wit "Why no, I'm sorry to hear that… Did your friends tell you you're a big filly now?" Shitcoat just swallows and continues "Yes, I was really offended by you harsh words." He makes a gesture with his hoof and his buddies go to grab me. I step back onto thin air and hold myself up by my wings. But this misstep lets them grab me. I am soon held by my wings and I squirm to get away. I look at Shitcoat but all of my bravado has left my face. I see past Shitcoat and I can see float standing, watching, staring but doing nothing. I call out to him "Go get help!" But all he does is stand there. Shitcoat turns to see Float standing there. He walks over and while standing over Float belts him across the face. Float falls and Shitcoat leans in close, saying something I can't quite make out. The idiot pony of Shitcoats gang tells me "You're all silent now aren't you, where are your mean words?" He laughs as I try to squirm out of their grip. Once he is done with Float, Shitcoat turns his attention back to me and slowly strides over. His face is terrifying and I think he is capable of anything right now. "Now what are we to do with you Storm Chaser?" The scrawny pony says "We should humiliate him in front of everypony here… Like he did to us" The idiot throws his weight in "I say we should break his wings, push him off Cloudsdale. That way he'll never come back." I laugh nervously, this had to be a joke right? I see Shitcoat look at the both of them for a second and his smile gets even larger "Storm, do you know what the cloud edges around Cloudsdale are sometimes referred to?" I shake my head. He wouldn't… "Bloodfall… There has been soooo many cases surrounding a pegasi smashed onto the fields around Cloudsdale. Everypony knows they killed themselves, what self-respecting pegasi falls off the edge of Cloudsdale and forgets they can fly?" I squirm harder now and begin to call out for any pony to help me. Shitcoat covers my mouth with his hoof. The scrawny pony laughs nervously now "Hey, we've scared him enough. He gets the message, let's go to bed" I can see directly into Shitcoat's eyes. I finally realize the meaning behind the saying _"The eyes are the windows of the soul" _I know exactly what Shitcoats souls is made of. It is the soul of a murderer. My muffled voice gets slightly louder as I lose every piece of my bravado. I want this to end. I want to wake up at home and Mum and Dad tell me it's ok. Shitcoat punches me in the throat and uncovers my mouth. All I can do is cough and splutter as he turns around. I think for just a second that it's gonna be ok before he leans forward and kicks out with his back hooves. They connect with my wings and I hear an audible crack. A rush of adrenaline hits me and my eyes open wide. I don't feel any pain, but only for a few seconds. The rush of adrenaline goes fast and I am hit with a flood of pain. I go to cry out but Shitcoat has other plans. A second after kicking my wings he kicks my stomach. I am wrenched out of the relative safety of my enemies and into the whipping wind of death.

I watch Cloudsdale fall away from me in slow motion. I hear the voices of Shitcoat and his scrawny friend in what seems a heated argument. The pain in my wings is amplified by the constant pushing and shoving by the wind at my back. I want to fold them in and stop the pain but I can't move them. If I move them my mind tells me they will fall off. I am rolled over and I can see the darkness below. For a few seconds I wonder whether this is just a dream and I am falling into nothing, but the ground soon becomes visible as I fall. I shut my eyes, I don't know if I am ready to die but I have been given no choice. I wait for the ground…

POOF, I feel a weight from the side and the air all comes out of me. I open my eyes and I find myself to be going horizontally to the ground. Soon after I hit the ground but not as I expected. I roll and roll over my broken wings before coming to a stop with my face in the dirt. Blinking a few times helps me to fully see the ground beneath me and I cannot believe what I see. My mouth makes a noise, I believe it resides between screaming and laughing but it sounds like a wild animal's wail. I don't even feel the pain of my broken wings and just shout at the dirt beneath me. I am alive. But how? I am disturbed by a hoof at my shoulder and I look up. A pegasi stand over me looking at my deformed wings. He is orange in colour and is wearing gold armour. As a Canterlot born pony I recognize this as a royal guard. He rubs my shoulder "Are you ok? Can you hear me?" I simply grab his hoof and make that strange animal noise. He holds it tight and says "It's going to be ok…" He looks at my wings "I'm so sorry I hurt you…" He looks up towards Cloudsdale and says "I'm going to get you help, don't go anywhere ok…" But before he can go do that I see a shape fall quickly towards the ground. It slams into the dirt making a visible dust cloud. The royal guard goes and walks over to the shape and I follow him, snapped out of my stupor. He reaches the shape first and simply sits on his flank "Sweet Celestia…" I reach his side and see what it is. It's a pony but it looks like a monster from a scary book. Its limbs are all contorted and there is blood flowing from underneath it. But it is the identity of the pony who shocks me. It Shitcoats, scrawny sidekick.


	4. Chapter 4: Angels aren't always white

I remember stories and books talking about a pony's first experience with death. Some ponies shut down, some vomit and some simply weep. All I do is stare. I never even knew this pony's name, in fact I despised him to some extent. But I feel sorry for him. I want to look away, his body is mangled and none of his limbs are in the proper place but my eyes need to watch. I don't even notice the royal guard leave, he rushes up towards the clouds to get help. The night surrounds me with stillness and I am left with this silent pony as my only company. "I-I… I'm sorry" I fall onto my flank. "I'm so sorry" I feel as though this is my fault, I saw him argue with Shitcoat up on the ledge. Did he do the same thing as he did to me? It's the only reasonable explanation. The night gives me no answer and I look up towards the edge of the clouds. Why? Why would you kill one of your own friends? My eyes shut and I believe I faint.

When I wake up the world around me is white. I feel a throbbing pain in my back and I am warm. My legs feel like stiff and I try to kick out. My hoof clangs with metal and I see I am in a closed in bed. It takes me a second to realize but I'm in a hospital. I remember the night before, the bent limbs… I blink I shove the memory out for now. To my left side I can see a window and all I see is sky. To my right is a small wooden cabinet, it is bare. I hear a soft voice and I turn to the foot of my bed, I see a mare with a blue coat. "Hello, you are Storm Chaser aren't you?" I nod. The mare smiles, she seems sweet and I smile back. "My name is Mist, are you feeling comfortable?" Again I nod, normally I would have made some sort of jest such as _"I am more comfortable with you around…"_ But after waking up I feel weirdly light-headed so I stay silent in fear of losing my pride. Mist walks up to my side and looks at my wing saying "How are these going?" I try and sit up better so she can have a better look "They're ok… They are throbbing but it's manageable." Mist leans in and fluffs my pillows so I am more comfortable sitting up. "That's great. We will need to keep you here for a couple more days just to make sure you are ok. After that you will be able to go home." Mist steps back still with her kind smile. "Since you're awake, can I get you anything?" I fully adjust myself and relax on the pillows, this helps the throbbing in my wings a little bit. "Actually, could you get me a glass of water? A perhaps a book, please? I don't think I could handle talking to myself all day" Mist giggles before saying "Ok, I'll be seeing you in a minute then. You get comfortable" I do, if it wasn't for the blinding white and the warmer than average temperature I would think this is a hotel. I know that isn't the case for everypony, but this is quite ice so far. Mist soon returns with a glass of water and a book. She lays down the water on the cabinet and gives me the book. "I hope you like it. Call for me if you need anything else." I look at the front cover. Daring Do, heh, I always enjoyed these as a little filly. I wanted to be an adventurer like Daring Do when I grew up. "This is lovely thank you." Mist simply continues to smile and leaves the room.

I now can feel the silence in the room. Memories of last night flood back in and I see him flat on the ground. I can't look away… I can't look away… I-I… I need to look away. The throbbing in my wings intensifies and I made an audible cry of pain. There is a knock on the door. I raise my head and push back the fresh memories and hard as I can. _"Go… Go Away… BUCK OFF!" _ I watch the door open, the royal guard from last night walks in. He is accompanied by a pony wearing a tie, it is black with green stripes. The royal guard isn't wearing his armour and shrinks in slight embarrassment when he walks in "Oh, did we disub you?" I shake my head "No, no… I was… just reading a book, that's all" I toy with the idea of talking to him about last night but I don't know whether he want to… The royal guard comes to the foot of my bed and waves to the light brown tie wearing pony behind him. "Uh, Hi there… You are Storm right?" I nod "Well Storm, this is Hazel Brush. Is it ok we talk to you about last night?" I know that Hazel is there to investigate what happened so I place the book onto the cabinet and take a drink of the water. The two ponies sit in a couple of chairs assigned to the corner near my bed. Hazel opens a small notepad and begins to write with a slightly glowing quill. The royal guard speaks first "Storm, did you know the other pony from last night?" I am glad to be telling someone my side but I keep flashing to Shitcoats friend… "Not on friendly terms no… He was a part of a group that were unhappy with me being from Canterlot." Hazel nods and continues to write. "Why were they unhappy about you being from Canterlot?" I take another sip of water, finally realising I'm quite thirsty form last night. "They didn't like that I was able to attend to college for free due to my Canterlot scholarship. They tried bullying me out of the college on day one and since… They also targeted my friends, but they liked me especially since I was seen as the leader of our group when we arrived." Hazel nods and the Royal guard says "The Canterlot scholarship has been criticized since it was first implemented. Many ponies don't agree with it, saying it is too soft and gives Canterlot pegasi an advantage." Hazel flips over a page and writes every word we are saying. The royal guard continues "Do you know the names of the ponies who bullied you?" I shake my head "They never told me their names, but I could pick their faces out if I was shown them." Hazel grunts and shuts his notepad. The royal guard says to me "Thanks for your co-operation. We'll come back if we have any more questions." Hazel speaks for the first time since entering, his voice is as course as his black mane. "I hope you get better soon." I reply "Thanks…" The royal guard turns to Hazel and says "You go off to lunch, I would like to talk to Storm alone." Hazel nods and leaves the room leaving me with my orange saviour in the night.


	5. Chapter 5: Guardians clad in gold

Again the room falls silent as Hazel clicks to door shut. The royal guard stands from his chair and walks to the edge of my bed. "Are you ok? What happens last night isn't to be ignored…" I breathe heavily and finish my water. "To be honest, I could be better. I keep seeing him mangled on the ground…" I blink out the memory again "Are you seeing that too?" The royal guard taps his hooves on the metal railing "It was not a pretty picture…" He takes a deep breath "I'm more concerned about you though… I've seen death before." I chug the rest of the water. I feel slightly better now but I still feel sore. "I'm fine, hell I could be worse." This brings a smile to his face. "Ok then, I'll see you later. I hope you get better soon." Hazel stands up and walk out of the room. I am left alone. I pick up the Daring Do book and read a chapter before deciding that the best thing for me will be sleep.

Three days later I finally leave the hospital. I have to get directions back to the college as I don't know where I am exactly. A kind old mare walks me back. "It's nice to have some pony to talk to." She says as we slowly walk along a sparsely populated street. She is a dark pink colour and has wrinkles across her face. She walks with a slight limp and I realize that one of her hooves is smaller than the others. She looks at the bandages on my wings "What did you do to yourself?" I go to answer with the truth but decide that it might be better for the college to tell her a lie. "I…Had a flying accident. Just lost concentration and smacked hard into some raised ground. I turned to not break my neck on impact and instead fractured both my wings." We stop at the corner and the mare turns to the left. "Oh my…" She holds her hoof up and touches my wing. Her touch is soft. She wouldn't even push a feather out of place. I smile at her and she begins to walk again. I stick close and the mare begins to walk about her day. It turns out she sews almost every day, I hear about every one of her sewing group and what their lives are like. I stay silent and listen to her drivel. Soon enough we arrive back at the college and the old mare says her goodbyes. I shake her hoof "Thank you so much. I would never have found the college again without you." I let go of her hoof and turn to walk away but she taps my shoulder. "I never asked but what was your name?" I reply smiling, my voice sounds as chirpy as it ever has in my life. "I'm Storm Chaser. Thank you again." The old mare's response sounds happy as well "It was nice to have a kind young pony to talk to. I hope your wings are better soon. Have a nice day Storm Chaser." She turns and walks away and I, sadly, walk back into the college. I soon realize that while she asked my name I never did the same. I get a ping of guilt in my stomach and decide I would have to make up for that later, now I just want to go to bed. A couple of ponies flying by all stare at me and talk to their friends as they go. It must be a strange sight to see a pony with wings in bandages walking by himself. By the time I reach the front door of the accommodation building I swear I can see a couple of ponies staring out the window looking at me. I open the door and see Float drop down from the stairs above. He says to me "Dude, the headmaster wants to see you now." I slump and walk back the other way. The walk and the nights in the hospital have left me empty, all I want to do is sleep and eat and drink. I take Floats advice and he follows me over to the main building. I don't want to talk about it but I need to know something, I take a deep breath before asking "Why didn't you go get help. Fly off when you first saw what was happening?" Floats head turns and I can now see his eye. It has the late stages of a bruise. "I couldn't believe that they would do that to you. I saw myself on the edge… They did the same thing to me Storm, I can remember kicking and screaming while they dangled me over the cloud edge and I thought they were going to crash me into the field." He turns his head back forward and I look to the cloud below my hooves.

We reach the headmasters office and I can see the sun ready to drop below the horizon. Headmaster Astral looks at us from the chair behind his desk. He doesn't look angry but his face reads sadness, I feel like he is going to give some bad news. "Hello, I have already talked to the other three Canterlot ponies earlier today. I am afraid I have got some bad news. After the event a couple of days ago and what happened to our friend Float only a couple days earlier. I have made the decision to cut the Canterlot scholarship from our program. I have heard criticism for years about this project andthis latest event has taken it too far. I can't have ponies dying in our college." The headmaster looks at me "Or ponies seriously injured." The headmaster gives us both a letter "I have sent this to your parents and after talking with Inspector Hazel and his Royal Guard accomplice, I have also expelled Mr Sunsetter and Mr Meadow." When the headmaster sees my confusion he picks up a folder and gives it to me adding "The two ponies who I believe committed the act." Inside the folder was a picture of Shitcoat and his idiot friend. I nod and give the folder back "You all have a week to pack up your things and then we will provide transport for you Storm and you too Float, if you so desire back to Canterlot. Unfortunately we cannot give you degrees since you have not completed enough study, but you will both be allowed to keep your books and we will provide a reference to a job for the both of you." I am devastated but I thank the headmaster for his generosity. Once we leave the office float punches his hoof into the cloud wall. It makes a soft _poof_ sound. He does this a couple more times to relieve his anger. The cloud slowly morphs back into shape and I lead Float out of the building and back to my room. Once inside we open our letters.

"Dear Mr Chaser,

We regret to inform you that the Canterlot Scholarship have been removed from our program here at Cloudsdale College. This is not to the fault of you or any of your actions but is a decision made by the Headmaster and his council in concern of the wellbeing of students.

This letter is also serves as a letter of reference to any future potential employer of the pony mentioned:

We at the Cloudsdale College recommend this pony for employment in high regard as they are an intelligent, hard-working and dependable pony who can handle difficult tasks given to them. We are available by letter and personal contact to discuss the matter of this reference further.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your life and good luck in future studies.

Headmaster Astral,

Cloudsdale College"

The rest of the letter just read contact details. "What are we going to do?" Float looks worried "This was my one chance to get something worth a damn. I wanted to work as a weather manager. But I guess I'll just have to settle for grunt work." I don't have anything to console him but "Maybe in time you can be promoted to manager." Float just throws his letter to the ground "Yeah, like in 10 years. I'll just scrape by until then!" "Well you were in no better position before you got here!" Float scrunches up his face. He looks fuming "And I'm in not better position when I leave! What was the point of this place!? Were we just here to get beaten up and bullied?" He is standing now, pacing around the room and ready to destroy every piece of furniture in there. "Well I learned that I don't take no shit from no-pony. At least this place taught me that!" I am also standing up. But this proves a bad decision as Float shoves me down onto my bed and my wings shoot up with pain. "Take your macho bullshit and see how far it gets you. I'm going to go and contemplate my now inevitable low-class life." He storms out and I am left wincing in pain. "OW OW OW! BUCK! BUCK!" I can hear my voice echoing down the hallway through the open door. Soon I am left in silence as my wings stop hurting. I see Float has left his letter on the floor. I pick it up and push it through the gap underneath his door. Inside I can hear crying. I go back to my room and even though every movement in my bed gives me a twinge of pain, I soon fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6 Is Ponyville the place to be?

The day I am meant to leave Cloudsdale I receive a letter from mum. "Dear Stormchaser, Hi honey, I know you are excited to come home to Canterlot but I have to tell you don't come back. The underside of Canterlot has burst as the royals have taken money to fund their summer solstice preparations. Underlot as it is being called has gone into chaos and anypony returning is being checked to whether they will support the movement against Princess Celestia. Look somewhere else and have an adventure baby! Love Mum" _Well buck…_ I fold the letter up and put it with the rest of my luggage, which consists of just one suitcase filled with bits and blankets, including the one made by the kind old pony that walked me from the hospital. It turns out her name is (Old pony names) and she wants to know about my adventures. I give one more check to my bandaged wings and walk to the hot air balloon waiting for me to take me to the ground.

Inside the balloon the lime green pony that is wearing a hat with goggles asks, "Canterlot is it?" I shake my head saying "Change of plans, what is the closest town from Cloudsdale at the moment?" She looks over the edge of the basket exclaiming, "Cloudsdale is currently over Ponyville!" _Ponyville…_ "Take me down there I'll figure out where to go myself The balloon pony just fiddles with the balloon controls "ok then" It only takes a couple minutes to get to the ground and for that I get a discount on the trip."10 bits, that's all" This brings me down to 60 bits in my suitcase. _I need to find work…_ Once the balloon pony leave I turn around and look at the town now my new home. Ponyville is a small town consisting of what seems one main street and surrounded on one side by a forest and the other by the largest apple orchard I've ever seen. I pick up my suitcase and begin to walk into the main street. Most of the buildings are the same, white stone covered by a hay-thatched roof. I try to look for an inn. Up ahead is two ponies talking, one is a bright pink earth pony and a purple unicorn followed by an honest to Celesita bucking dragon! I stare at the scaly phenomenon when the pink pony "HEY THERE!" The pony is so close our noses touch and I fall back on my flank "SWEET CELESTIA!" I hit the ground with a thump and the pink pony laughs until she snorts. "You're silly, **gasp** you! You're new! Oh my gosh! TWO new ponies! I need to host the biggest, most super-duper 'Welcome to Ponyville' party EVER!" The pink pony then gasps again and with the biggest smile on her face she rushed into a bakery at a speed I think in unponily possible. I get up and shake off the dust "Well, I was barely a part of that." Again I look for an inn and see a sign that looks right. I walk inside and an old wrinkly pony is at the counter. "Do you have a room?" I ask and the pony pulls the last key off of a row of hooks. "Last room buddy, the place is packed for Summer solstice… It's the thousandth one this year and Princess Celestia is coming to raise the sun in ponyville… Oh it's very exciting days! Oh it reminds me of the days when…" I pick up my suitcase and hook the key over my ear. "Well, thank you for the room but I'm tired so I need to go inside." The old pony stops his story and says "Oh, ok have a nice stay mister!" I nod and give him a wave before looking for my room, 23. Inside the room is only one bed a small table and a shower. "Well, I've seen worse that's for sure." After placing my suitcase on the table I lay down on my bed, my wings throb and holding back the urge to grunt at every movement is making me tired so I fall into a small nap.

When I wake up it is still sunlight outside and but It looks like afternoon. I look towards the door to see a small envelope. When I open it a pop of confetti comes out of the envelope and I unfold what looks like an invitation. "Dear silly Pegasus, Pinkie Pie invites you to your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! Bring your dancing hooves and see you at Golden Oaks library tonight!" The invitation is signed by the same name and wonder how the buck the pony knew where I was staying. I check my window and the bathroom but find no pony. "Well the day is still going, I might look around and see if there is work. Has to be with the summer solstice on at the moment. As soon as I take a step outside I hear a scream "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I have to duck and a rainbow blur barely passes over my head. The blur stops, digging up dirt and spraying mud everywhere as it slows down. Once I hear the commotion stop I stand up to see a mud splattered Pegasus mare trot over to me, she looks pissed. "You messed up my trick!" _Is she BUCKING SERIOUS!_ I stand my ground "You're the one flying around at top bucking speed! How about you watch where you're going!" I kick up some mud "Imagine that! Kicked off blood ridge just to be killed by some wayward bucking mare!" I look back and the mare is wide-eyed "You… You were kicked off blood ridge?" I nod "Who did you piss off to get that? most ponies kicked off there are dead before they fall!" I turn towards her "Yeah, well I survived and have the scars to prove it!" The mare, expression changes to amusement "HA! Didn't think I would meet a zombie pony today! The names Rainbow Dash" She holds out a muddy hoof and I shake it "Stormchaser" Rainbow Dash looks closely at my bandaged wings. "So you really got kicked off blood ridge huh?" I puff my chest out, it's nice to have a mare notice me, even if she nearly took my head off "Yeah bastard broke my wings before kicking me off." Rainbow looks underneath my wing too and nuzzles it bringing me to wince in pain. "I heard about that, it was at Cloudsdale College, didn't some pony else die?" I nod "Yeah, I watched the poor guy hit the ground." Rainbow Dash takes a couple of steps back "Oh… That must have been rough" I droop my head "Yeah, I'm still fully dealing with it but that's part of the reason I'm here" Rainbow is wiping mud from her coat now, but decides to quickly grab a cloud and has an impromptu shower with the rain. While shaking off the water she says "So what _are_ you here for?" I have to hold my hoof up as Rainbow Dash dries herself by flinging water all over the place. "I… I was hoping to find a job" Her eyes light up "How good are you with colours?" I rub my head with my hoof "Uhh, I'm ok… My mum was an artist so I was always ok at matching colours together." Rainbow Dash flies right up to my face "PERFECT!" At my confused expression she elaborates, "You see the clouds and how some are darker than others?" I nod "The darker the cloud the heavier the rain. Over on the weather team we need to have the clouds with just the right type of dark so we don't drown the plants. Just a week ago our cloud matcher left us to work in Fillydelphia so now we can only guess the cloud colours. BUT! -" Rainbow turns back towards me "Now that you're here! We can finally have someone good enough for the job!" Rainbow goes to fly off but turns around and comes back, she stops just in front of me and I fall on my flank for the second time today with a thump. "Sweet Celestia! Does nopony here know personal space!?" Rainbow looks awkward "Yeah… Anyway! Come meet me the day after the summer solstice! That's when we'll have our first rain! My house is the cloud one in the sky!" Rainbow points towards a large house made entirely of clouds with a rainbow waterfall on the side. I go to say thanks but she is off again becoming the Rainbow blur I first met.

Later on just as the sun is setting I wonder over to a tree hollowed out into a house. I found out earlier on that this is the Golden Oaks Library mentioned in the invitation by Pinkie Pie. The night outside is cool but inside the library is a hot, sweaty ball of chaos. Ponies line the walls and the second floor of the library and it seems I'm late to the party. When I arrive I am greeted by Pinkie Pie who rushes up to me in the same way she did earlier on today. "HI! I'm SO GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT!" She has to shout over the sound of the music blaring within the confined space. "I SAVED YOU A PIECE OF CAKE!" A slice of frosted cake is shoving in my direction and I take it graciously but I still haven't shut the door behind me "IT USED TO SAY 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE' BUT… WE ATE IT BEFORE YOU GOT HERE!" I manage a chuckle "THAT'S OK! I'M GLAD YOU GOT THE PARTY STARTED BEFORE I GOT HERE!" I take a bite of the cake; its quite good, moist and sweet and the frosting aren't too rich. Before I can speak to Pinkie Pie she's gone and I'm left on my own eating a cake. Luckily I spot Rainbow Dash form earlier and I go up to say thank you for the job she gave me. Rainbow sees me approaching and waves "Hey there zompony!" Her company, a yellow Pegasus, an orange earth pony wearing a hat and a white unicorn give her a confused look before Rainbow explains, "That's a pony that was kicked off bloodfall and survived! I was telling you about him earlier!" The orange earth pony fixes her hat "You took a darn good licking from what Rainbow told us!" The white unicorn chimes in with a posh Canterlot accent "Oh yes, I read about it in the newspaper. What a tragedy darling! Are you ok?" Before I can reply Rainbow hooks her hoof around me squeezing on my hurt wings. "It takes more than one fall to kill a Pegasus!" She laughs heartily and my eyes nearly bulge out of my head I make a squeaking noise as I try to suppress screaming out loud "R-Rainbow?" She looks down on me and I whisper "Still broken!" Rainbow takes a quick step back and I check my wings, everything looks ok. The unicorn gulps down her drink and hurriedly speaks "Oh my gosh where are my manners! I'm Rarity. What's your name?" I gather my composure again as my pain resides to just a dull throb. "I'm… I'm Stormchaser" Rainbow Dash waves to her company "You met Rarity, next is Applejack" The orange earth pony tips her hat "and that's Fluttershy" the yellow Pegasus hides behind her mane and says something I can't hear over the music. "And you already met me!" I turn to Rainbow Dash "Oh, bye the way thanks for the job… I didn't know what I was going to be doing here in Ponyville" Rainbow tips her hoof towards me going "Phhphphph, no need to thank me, although I am awesome enough for all the compliments in the world… We needed somepony like you anyway, Applejack was and the 'end of her rope' as she would say" Applejack points at Rainbow Dash "Darn Tootin'! You pegasi couldn't tell a grey cloud from an apple!" Rainbow turns towards Applejack, her hooves resting on her back legs. "It's only because you earth ponies are so picky that we need Storm at all!" The two ponies begin arguing, getting closer to each other with every line. I stand back, not able to think of what to say, luckily Rarity says my part anyway "Please girls, Storms here now so you don't need to worry about the clouds anymore." I feel nervous now, it seems that this job is more important to Ponyville than I thought and I just hope that I'm up to the task.

The summer solstice celebrations continue on late into the night. I grow more comfortable with the ponies in the room and during the night I meet some of the pegasi that I'll be working with. Night begins to wane and we all converge on Ponyville's town hall. Every single pony in Ponyville seems to be crammed into the space, me included I finally get the time to realize how fast I've been included as one of them. Within one day I already have a job, met my new colleagues, made friends and the only thing remaining is finding accomidation. _One bucking day… There must be some kind of charm on the town_ My thoughts are interrupted, everypony is getting ready to welcome Princess Celestia when she raises the sun for Ponyville. Soon enough an announcement is raised over the town hall and the pony I recognize as Rarity pulls a rope to open the curtain to… Nothing… Ponies gasp and I hear a couple of screams form the crowd. Then a swirl of smoke appears and a dark pony appears where Celestia should have been. I look around and the crowd is unmoving, that's where I make a momentous decision. I sneak through the crowd and climb the stairs to the platform. I reach the top and see the black mare. She looks around the same height as Celestia but just… Dark, black coloured even, which is a stark contrast to the princess of the sun. Her cutie mark is a picture of the moon. _Surely it can't be the mare in the moon! That's just a story you hear on Nightmare night_ I take a step forward and go to leap on her back. _Maybe we can find where she took Princess Celestia._ But as I leap the mare turns into a cloud of smoke and I land flat on my stomach. _Buck that didn't work_. By the time the smoke clears I am left alone on the second floor, with three royal guards flying in place and looking pissed. "Did you do this?" I stand up and cough up some of the smoke "No, I thought I could take down whoever that was." The royal guard laughs "By yourself? If that's true you have bigger balls than all of us!" I chuckle and the guard lands next to me "By the way how'd you hurt your wings?" _My wings seems to be a good conversation starter, maybe I should try a few pick up lines with them._ "You probably heard about it Blood ridge and Cloudsdale college?" The guard fixes his helmet "Oh, yeah I heard about that… Was that really you? I thought you was going back to Canterlot." I turn and we talk as we walk "Nah, where I came from in Canterlot has kicked shit up about the summer solstice, so I came to the closest town which turned out to be Ponyville." The guard nods "Cool, well I'll be seeing you around I need to get back to the squad" We've reached the bottom of the stairs by then and the guard flies off. I only now realize how tired I am and decide to go back to bed. Outside Ponyville seems to be in a clamor and strangely the moon is still in the sky _so… Has Princess Celestia really been ponynapped? I should try and help to find out who did this…_ I then yawn again. _You know what? Buck it I'm going to bed I'm sure they have good ponies on the job_.Once I reach the inn again I drop a couple of bits on the bench and flop onto the bed in my room, my wings don't even throb as I fall asleep straight away.


	7. Chapter 7 Weather or Guard?

The door blasts open and the artic wind howls inside the pony's recluse in the snow. A couple of guards work together to shove the door back into place and a table is sacrificed to hold the door shut. The group of four has changed to ten as a few bored crystal ponies listen on to Storm's story. Storm gets up to revive the fire after the wind blows in which highlights Storms cutie mark, a white shield marked with a cross made of fire. An older crystal pony asks "Say, Storm how did you get your cutie mark, you never told us that during your story" A younger crystal pony pipes up saying "Yeah, where is the fighting bit? This is boring so far!" Storm points at him with the now red-hot fire poker. "I'm getting to it but this whole story adds up to why I joined the Royal guards." The crystal pony leans back groaning "But all that's sooo bor-" The older crystal pony smacks his companion on the back of the head "You're always so immature! Sweet Celestia Storm got kicked off of Cloudsdale and survived and now he was stuck in the middle of the reemergence of Princess Luna! Ponies got stained glass windows in the castle from that!" The younger crystal pony just rubs the back of his head "Just like you, interested in all that boring history shit…" The two ponies continue on their argument so Storm continues his story to the rest of the crowd surrounding the table.

"Right… Well its still summer solstice right? Ok… So when I woke up…" I get up from my bed and realize that the sun had finally risen. Outside everypony in Ponyville has gathered around Princess Celestia and a smaller alicorn. The smaller alicorn has a ring of flowers around her neck and everypony seems to be cheering for her. I hear a shout of "Long live princess Luna!" _So we have a new princess now…_ Near princess Luna I see Rainbow Dash and her friends and alongside Princess Celestia I see the purple unicorn from yesterday as well as her dragon. _What the buck is with this town?_ The rest of the day goes ahead rather uneventfully and by the end of the day I am down to 40 bits.

Next day I wake up early and travel to Rainbow Dash's place. When I get there I can't see any activity _don't weather ponies get up early?_ I can't think of anyway of checking on Rainbow Dash without waking up half of Ponyville in the process so instead I sit under a tree and wait for her to get up. Only when the sun is halfway to noon do I hear activity from the cloud mansion. A minute later Rainbow Dash drops down to the ground and sees me sitting under the tree. "How long have you been there?" I finish playing with my leaf and stretch my stiff legs "A couple of hours" Rainbow Dash laughs "You do know you could have just flied up and knocked on the door right?" I point to my still bandaged wings and Rainbow stops laughing instantly "Oh… Why are you up so early anyway?" I scratch the back of my head "Well my Dad always worked on weather in Canterlot and he was up before the sun rose every morning… In fact when I first got up I thought I was late." I see the orange earth pony Applejack trot over to us "Well howdy y'all, how's it goin?" Rainbow replies by yawning loudly and saying "Could have had a few more hours but I'm doing fine…" Applejack rolls her eyes "Now about those rains scheduled for today." Rainbow goes wide-eyed "Oh, yeah about that I forgot something… Be right back." Rainbow flies off in a blur. Applejack turns towards me, tipping her hat "And how's it goin, Mr uh Stormchaser wasn't it?" I nod "Yeah, Applejack wasn't it? I'm doing ok, I just hope to earn some desperately needed bits." Rainbow Dash looks up at the cloud house before replying "I hope you can read those clouds Mr Stormchaser… Rainbow can't be bothered to read the book and drowns my plants nearly ever week." As she says this Rainbow Dash comes down from her house carrying a book. The book is in tatters with small pieces of paper sticking out of every page. On the cover is the title "Different clouds and their colours" Rainbow hands it to me and I open it. Inside the book is a description of every cloud, their colour and the amount of rain or other effects of each cloud. "All it takes is to match the clouds to the book." I look towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash "This'll be easy, when do we start?"

The job isn't too hard, just time consuming. I have to receive a report from Applejack, then I have to match up what Applejack describes with the cloud needed and then order the weather ponies to find the cloud I describe. I have to do this multiple times to ensure an even amount of rainfall over the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres. It takes me late into the afternoon to finish. As soon as I am done I travel back to the inn my first ever bit of pay being held between my teeth, 25 bits. It pays for my food and my room but nothing else; I am only left with three bits extra than when I started. I continue this for the rest of the week and save up 9 bits thanks to regular doctors appointments for my wings.

Weeks pass by with no change; I finally fall into a groove. By the second week the innkeeper helps me move into a new place. I find the spare bed with one of my colleagues on weather and thus I am able to save a few more bits by doing extra work around their small house. In the fourth week however I am met with a new adversary. When I turn up to work at Rainbow's house I see another pony at the front door. My wings are still bandaged for another week so I just watch to see what happens. The pony at the door is a dark yellow Pegasus and when Rainbow opens the door he begins to aggressively talk to her. I can hear his voice but can't make out his words from my position. Even when Rainbow closes the door he is still angry and Rainbow Dash is forced to push past him as she tries to fly down and meet me. He follows her down and I can finally hear what they are both saying. "I worked for this weather team for seven years! How can you dare say that there isn't a position for me!" Rainbow just pushes me along "Lets go Storm…" The yellow Pegasus follows us "OH So is this you're new Stallionfriend huh?!" Rainbow turns around and yells at the yellow Pegasus "It's none of your business! Now buck off!" The stallion continues to follow us "So that's how it is? Have a job for you stallionfriend but not for one of you longest colleagues? Huh? Is that how it is? HEY, RAINBOW DASH LOOK AT ME!" Rainbow turns and stands off with the other Pegasus, she growls her words "What!" The Pegasus grabs rainbow and drags her close. "When I find whoever took my job, I'm gonna hand their ass back to you in a box to remind you what happens when you mess with me." If this fazes Rainbow Dash she doesn't show it as she hold in her barely contained rage "Buck off back to Fillydelphia you hay-stain…" I remember Rainbow talking about how I filled the position of the pony that left for Fillydelphia _So I'm the guy…_

In my moment of realization Rainbow Dash had turned around and begun to fly off but the yellow Pegasus was reeling back for a strike at the back of her head. I'd had enough of this and decide it's time to intervene. I charge forward, knocking the yellow Pegasus onto the ground. Standing over him I growl at his face saying "Instead of hitting somepony when their back is turned, how about you talk to the pony responsible for taking your job?" The Pegasus changes from fear to anger again and he pushes against my chest. "So it is you who took my job! Don't you know how long I worked here? How many friends I have here?" I push his hoof off my chest "Yeah, I know how you feel this place has a charm to it… But _you_ left to go to Fillydelphia remember?" The Pegasus scrambles from underneath me to stand back up. He seems calmer now, realizing he is not all in the right "But I need my job back now… The weather team in Fillydelphia gave my job away as well… I have nowhere else" During this time I hear a yell from down the road "Storm!" looking over I am surprised, it's Float but he is wearing a Royal guards uniform. Float trots over with a smile on his face that does not warrant the situation. "I heard loud voices and I knew I recognized one of them! How have you been?" I chuckle nervously as Rainbow Dash and the Pegasus both stare. "Yeah, I've been fine float, look I'm kind of busy right now so can I speak to you later?" Float turns around seeing my company and realizes his problem. "Oh, sorry I'll speak to you later Storm." I catch Float before he goes. "Hey, we finish at around sundown so meet me at Sweet Apple Acres… It's the big apple farm, meet me around the gate. We'll catch up"

After work has ended I meet up with Float at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. I find it strange to see him in the golden armour, especially since his dream is to work in weather. We walk back into town chatting like we used to. Soon enough our conversation falls onto work. "What do you do in the Royal Guards Float?" Float droops his head. We walk inside Sugarcube corner and sit down with the last dregs of the day's customers. Everypony stares at Float as he lays his helmet down on the table. "To be honest Storm, I don't do anything. I polish, I stand and I eat and I sleep… Nopony in the guards trusts me to do anything." Pinkie Pie trots over to the table; smile beaming on her face even though she's just worked a full day in the bakery. "What can I get you two?" I order a sweet pastry, but when Float goes to order his jaw is dropped. "What's wrong?" I ask him, tapping on Floats shoulder "Sweet Celestia you're one of the elements of harmony! You and your friends are all the talk in Canterlot!" Pinkie gasps "REALLY?" Float matches Pinkie, surprisingly for enthusiasm "Of course! You revealed a new princess to rule over Equestria! That's quite impressive!" Pinkie squeaks in excited "Oh, I guess we did…" I stop to think and Float claps his hooves together "Oh, of course I'll have a slice of carrot cake…" Pinkie giggles "Oki doki loki!" She then bounces off behind the counter to get our order. "So Float, why _are _you in Ponyville?"

(Whew, boy this is a long chapter… I have so much to go before it's done! If you've gotten this far well done! I taking it you actually give a shit about Storm and his story… Now I'm going to split this up into two parts so I can upload something. Also if you are enjoying it tell me! It gives me confidence and I write quicker when I'm confident so you get more content. Even if you think it's bad or you think I'm doing something wrong tell me also, I'll go back and change it if necessary… Love you readers!)


	8. Chapter 7 Weather or Guard? Part two

(I might want to explain this now after reading over some earlier chapters…

You might see some words in italic _This if you are confused_ anything in italic means thoughts unless they are in speech bubbles. If there is italic in a speech bubble such as "What _are_ you doing?" it counts for emphasis… This adds a bit of life to the story and allows me to express Storms thoughts with minimal confusion. Love you guys now back to the story!)

"So Float why _are_ you in Ponyville?" Float leans back in his chair. "Well, I was assigned on a job to protect the new elements of harmony from attack… Apparently 'many ponies wish to eliminate this threat aligned with the princesses' so I had to come to Ponyville to be close to my assignments." Pinkie is back with our orders and Float leans in to take a bite of his carrot cake. "Well that doesn't sound that bad… I thought you said they didn't trust you with anything?" I hear Float gulp "Think about it for a minute. You are an organization that wants the end of Equestria… Who are you going to want to attack, the now _TWO_ royal princesses in the capital of Equestria, or would you take the time to attack a group of stock standard mares in the middle of Hicksville?" I give it a second and nibble on my pastry for thought… "Well, if I was a rebel organization… I could try to attack the 'friends of harmony' or whatever it is and take them in hostage… Could be a chance to draw the princesses out of their heavily guarded hole…" Float stops eating his cake "Maybe I should arrest you instead!" I laugh, "I could kick our flank all the way to Manehatten and back!" Float joins in the laugh "Yeah, you so could. Oh by the way… what made you choose those clouds today over Sweet Apple Acres?" I shrug "Applejack wanted heavy rain… That's what the book described" He slaps his face with his hoof. "Dude, those are winter clouds… They're about as expensive as a meal in the castle!" I pull out the book from my saddlebags and place it on the table. I then turn to the page the clouds were on. "Here it's what she needed…" Float then begins to turn pages, flipping through like he's owned the book all his life "Here, this cloud would have worked fine… It's a little smaller but even triple the amount of these clouds would have been cheaper that what you used today…" I look at the description of the cloud in the book and it matches what Applejack wanted, the same as what I used but closer inspection shows Float to be correct. "How'd you know all this?" While Float finishes his cake I stop his helmet from hitting the floor. I decide to try the helmet on, it fits well. "Dude, I always wanted to get into weather. I thought I was so sure to get a job I focused on that only during our studies in Cloudsdale. Once I got the flying certificate I would go straight into a job in Cloudsdale or Canterlot. Long story short, I know my shit." Float looks up and sees me in his helmet. "Looks good… Like it fits you naturally." I put the helmet on the table "I guess our heads are similar shapes, in fact we could be mistaken as brothers our bodies are so similar." Float cocks his eyebrow "You so sure of that?" When I look confused he elaborates. "I think mines longer than yours…" _Oohhh_ I take a nibble of my pastry "So you were looking huh?" Float just chuckles "Touché" I look at us and it's almost as if our jobs have swapped, Floats helmet resides on my side of the table and my book is over on his. I gets me thinking, I put the helmet on again "You know what? It _is _like this helmet fits me naturally, like my book fits you naturally… It's… I have an idea Float" He looks up "Hmm?" I continue "I wonder what would happen if we swapped jobs…" He looks surprised "You would do that?" I nod "Yeah, I mean we seem to suit each others jobs and well I've thought about joining the guard after the night on blood ridge." Float is catching on "And I would take your place here in Ponyville… working on weather! I could finally do it!" I nod again "What do you say? After my wings have healed we try swapping jobs…" Float looks excited but he calms himself quickly "How do you know you would be good at it? I mean you could be worse than me for all I know…" I look at my cutie mark. "I got my cutie mark after saving a friend from a runaway cart in Underlot… Over the years I've tried to work out what that meant… Nowadays, I think it means I'm good at protecting ponies. Now's my chance to confirm that."

The next few weeks go about quickly… I wonder what it's going to be like working as a Royal guard. Float sends off a letter to his superiors in Canterlot and I talk with Rainbow Dash. They both seem skeptical but are willing to put the idea on trial. Once I finally get the bandages off of my wings we put our plan into action.

While Float tries his hoof at cloud matching, I travel to Canterlot on the train since my wings are still not strong enough to fly such a distance. For once I take the train to the upper region of Canterlot, bypassing Underlot. The castle looms over all the buildings, its shadow covering at least some part of the city at all times. I take the walk up to the gate. "Halt!" A white unicorn stands over the gate, his golden armour gleams in the sunlight. "State your business!" I take a letter out of my saddlebags and show it to the unicorn. "Here, I have a meeting with Shining Armour" The unicorn holds up the letter with magic and reads it carefully. "The captain has been expecting you, we will have a pony inside to take you to his office." The unicorn gives me my letter back and the gates open. Inside I can see the royal gardens covering the grounds almost right up to the entrance of the castle. I am met with a small dark purple unicorn mare. Strangely she is more imposing than the guard at the gate, maybe because she holds herself so strongly… As the gates close behind me the unicorn walks slowly towards he castle "Come on, the captain's this way…" I can hear her breathing deeply as we walk. The sound troubles me "Um, are you ok?" The mare doesn't even look at me to answer "We don't move much once we are on the wall, so I enjoy my walks as deeply as I can." I look back towards the door "Oh, ok…" The mare sighs "I'm Midnight Starlight by the way" I suppress a slight laugh _it's so CUTE! That's the type of name you give to a pet, not a royal guard…_ "I-I'm Stormchaser…" Midnight finally looks at me, I can see her eyes match her coat, deep, deep purple… I can see a night full of stars in them _So that's why she's named that…She's beautiful not cute…_ "What, no demeaning 'awws' or comments on how my name rhymes…" Her voice snaps me back into reality "You obviously know that so why should I remind you?" Midnight laughs, "Do you know how many years I've waited for a pony to say that?" We reach the door "Good luck Storm… the office in down the hall to the right, you can't miss the plaque on the door." I nod "Thanks…"

I reach the office inside the castle. I'm so focused on Midnights eyes that I don't even realize where I actually am before I get ushered inside to meet Shining Armour. Shining Armour is a beast of a pony, a white unicorn around the size of princess Luna, he towers over me. "Good morning Stormchaser, sit down." I take a seat, Shining Armours, well, armour hangs near the door. I could make a house inside it. "Now, you're taking the place of Cloudfloat aren't you?" I nod "Why did you two offer this proposal?" I feel tiny, but I try to remember the courage I felt when I was in Headmaster Astral's office. "Um, well, we wanted to try this out because we seemed to fit the job of the other. Float always wanted to work on weather but he couldn't find a job after we had to leave Cloudsdale collage-" Shining Armour shuffles through some papers before skimming over what seems to be my profile. "Ah, I see you're the one that was kicked off of Blood ridge. I got a report about that. Continue…" I have to think before continuing "After that night I thought about becoming a guard since I was saved by one… I wanted to do the same, help ponies, save ponies… It seemed to be a pretty good deal." Shining Armour nods, "So you think you can handle the responsibility of being a guard?" I scratch my right wing; they're itchy after being bandaged for so long. "Well my cutie mark seems to represent the protection of ponies so… I would assume I would give it a good go." Shining Armour nods again before shuffling some papers. "Ok, early education at Canterlot south school of magic… home schooled after scuffle with teacher…. Unfinished education at Cloudsdale college… Letter of apology attached from headmaster… report from royal guard… 'pony seemed unfazed by injury'… 'he's strong, taking on bullies by himself…' hmm…" Shining Armour sets down the papers on his desk, his hoof is tapping on the wood floor of the office. "Alright, Storm… I'm going to give you a chance here, with Float's departure we are in need of ponies for the wall… Our recruitment is down this year and it isn't often we get a pony turn up at the door for a full on interview… So if you can find accommodation for tonight we will see how you go for some training tomorrow and monitor you form there…I hope to see more good reports form you Stormchaser" Shining Armour holds out his hoof and I shake it. _So… I'm a Royal Guard now?_


	9. Chapter 8 Home

Even though it has only been a couple of months it feels like years since I had seen my parents. It is a tearful reunion when I walk through the front door to home. I get shoved through to the kitchen where I sit down and have to tell Mum and Dad about my time in Cloudsdale and Ponyville, including my experience on blood ridge. The story hits Mum hard and she squeezes me into a hug that lasts for minutes, including remarks like "OH, Sweet Celestia! my little foal…" and "I can't believe it…" Dad just asks one question "What happened to the guy who did it?" Mum breaks from the hug and turns around "Why do we care? At least our little foal's ok right?" Dad continues without emotion "I know Storm, if he died he would royally mess the other guy up on the way down…" Mum is aghast "My baby doesn't start fights! He's a nice pony, aren't you Storm?" Mum and Dad stare at me and I gulp… "Well, many things have happened since then. One of them being that one of the other ponies died that night, right where I should have died…" Mum's voice raises 3 octaves "You DIDN'T DID YOU STORM!" I shake my head "I didn't kill him…But well, the reason I came back to Canterlot is because I joined up with the Royal Guards" Mum points at me with her hoof "NO! You are not joining the guards… Have you heard what happens to them? What DID happen to them just LAST WEEK!?" I shake my head "I haven't heard about Canterlot since I left Cloudsdale." Dad explains "A group of Royal Guards were attacked in Underlot just last week… Ponies believed they were personally aligned with the Princess…es and a gang of ponies attacked them, leaving five of them seriously injured and one dead… Storm, Underlot is rising up against the royals… They are done with being under the unicorns hoof and they want out." My hoof taps on the floor _So that's why I got in… I never had the education for a pony on the wall… _ I look up and my Dad continues "You see now don't you? They let you in because they need ponies to fight against Underlot." Mum grabs my hoof "Storm, don't do this… We'll find you a position somewhere else… You can work with Dad in weather!" I look at the both of them… and down at myself. _It is my destiny I can see that now… My cutie mark, it wouldn't lie would it? What could it be then? No, it is a shield it means what I thought… I protect others by taking the hits myself… But I can't do this to them…_ "We just want you to be safe Storm" _My parents they try so hard for me… What if I'm killed? In protect of what? the regime against my own home? But… But what?_ I look at Mum and Dad who continue to silently stare, waiting for my response. _My destiny or my safety? My parents or what I think is right? What can I do? Who am I as one pony? I am a pony of Underlot, but a pony in the royal guards… I am the middle ground and I can be the one to hold off a civil war… Can I?_ My thoughts are making me angry, I can't decide but the anger brings in courage… courage for myself "I-I can't give up this opportunity… I may be hurt but I will try unto death to keep my home from fighting itself… I'm sorry… I need the guards and Underlot need ponies like me" I get up to go but Mum holds my hoof. I try to pull out of her grip but she holds me with magic "Storm honey Stop this! There's another way! Please! Don't go and fight!" I pull away but Mum hold me in place, her hooves are dug into the floor. Dad comes over and puts his wing around my neck. "Storm… Son, do you really think you're doing the right thing? Can you stop Underlot fighting?" I stop, think, and then nod. "Then I can't stop you go ahead, but for the sake of yourself, for Celestia's sake and your mothers… Be bucking careful ok?" He gives me one last hug with his wings and Mum's violet magic slowly stops… I then leave. I can hear crying when I shut the door.

I decide to stay at one of Underlot's inns. It's cheap and in an honest opinion, shit. I can hear yelling in the streets all night and I hear the crash of a cart late a night. By morning I am tired but that only adds to my determination. The walk to the castle is filled with ponies in Underlot arguing with each other, I catch only a couple of words between each argument.

When I reach the front gate of the castle I am taken straight to a yard to learn my place in formations. Midnight is our teacher. "Alright! All you Pegasus ponies step forward!" I walk forward along with 4 other Pegasus ponies, I thought I was small but a couple of other pegasi look as though they'll snap with a light breeze. Midnight walks up to me first and slowly moves down the line "You Pegasus ponies are our front line! The first ponies to be met and if you can't stand tall, the first ponies to be hurt or killed!" Midnight then nods towards her earth pony companion and he brings out five tall shields. "This is not only your protection but everyponies! Don't get greedy! Everyone needs protection in the field and you are the only ones with the shields!" The earth pony helps us strap onto the shields. We have to stand on our two back legs to hold onto them but the weight of the shield is enough to keep us balanced. "Earth ponies step forward!" five earth ponies step out from next to us _This has been set up, that's for sure_ Midnight does another round, this time studying the earth ponies. "You earth ponies are the pegasi's support! Along with wearing a double lance, you'll be the Pegasus' hoof support!" Midnight's companion comes out wearing a contraption of two lances slung over the back of the earth pony and two hoof holes on the earth ponies' chest. "When things get too rough for our frail pegasi you will become their rock… Pegasi when you can't stand with your shield I want you to place your hoofs in the holes and flap for you life! Thus you two will become one unit! Learn each others names we don't want you pissed with each other when you are relied upon in the field!" "Now to practice this we will have unicorns pushing against you pegasi with their magic. I want you to become one unit and hold out against their magic! Now get ready!"

A line of unicorns come outside and line up in front of us. I stand with my shield and my earth pony braces for me. Midnight stands behind the line of unicorns and calls out "READY! BEGIN!" A stream of multi coloured magic energy blasts our way. The unicorn magic nearly knocks me on my flank straight away. My wings are the only things that keep me upright. My earth pony friend kneels and I put my back hooves into the holsters. He stands and we brace the torrent together. With my wings being broken and my limited flying experience after I was free of the bandages, my wings are tired after only a minute. After one minute and ten seconds I can feel sweat on my brow. One minute twenty and I can feel pain; one minute thirty and my breathing become labored as I push against the constant stream of magic. And by one minute forty I want to collapse. After two minutes the magic stops and I flop down on my shield, gasping for air. I look up at my wings and try to flap them but they wont move. I look over and see the other pegasi standing up and looking at me. I try to stand but my legs can't force themselves up. My earth pony friend pushes me legs. "Get up, Midnight's coming." I try again but my legs wont move; I can at least get some movement in my wings though. I look up to see Midnight standing over me "Liking your nap are we? Think you've done enough for the day? You're more worthless than you look Storm Chaser" She begins to walk away but I am able to stand with some help of the earth pony. "My wings were in bandages only a week ago." Midnight laughs. "Do you know how many times I've hear that one!?" I can stand on my own now and I lean on my shield. "Go check the medical records then I'm sure you'll find the report on how I was kicked off Cloudsdale with it!" This is worth Midnight looking back at me. The other pegasi look at me jaws dropped, I hear one of them whisper to the pony next to him. Midnight only raises an eyebrow. "So you decided after that, to come here and fight? To only put yourself in harms way again? Not to mention being a pony of Underlot?" I nod "I was saved by a Royal Guard, without him I would have died on impact with the ground. After that I knew I was going to do the same." Midnight snaps back to her tough superior skin and tells me "Even though that story was touching it still doesn't change the fact that your wings are as strong as a fillies. You need flying practice Storm; meet me after training and we'll discuss a flying instructor to get your wings back into shape. Now onto personal protection!" The rest of the day follows a similar format. We practice personal protection, in which I gather only one real tactic 'hold the shield in the way of danger'. After training I meet with a pegasi who teaches Underlot pegasi to fly, including me. The training with him reminds me of when I was young, so much that I could almost guess what training he had next.

The next week passes by the same. Every second day begins with formation training. I get more comfortable every session as my wings get stronger. Personal protection training strengthens my front hooves as well as I hold the shield. Talk begins to circulate around the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. It seems to be the first day we trainees will be working and it is the night that Underlot will be at its peak. I receive letters from Mum and Dad explaining how Underlot is slowly transgressing into a revolutionist society. "Ponies are arguing and splitting apart. One day soon things will erupt we're sure of it. Please come home, I don't want you hurt. Love, Mum"


	10. Chapter 9 Home?

As the Grand Galloping Gala draws closer the intensity of our training grows. As trainees we live at the castle in the Royal Guard quarters. I show a knack for personal protection as I can float just above the ground, opening me up to fight hoof to hoof better than Unicorns and earth ponies. Formation training bulks us ponies up bigger than we had thought possible and one day we even push back the magic being fired at us for training purposes. (That is quickly rectified though as we are introduced to double the firepower) Midnight Starlight continues to be our teacher and we please her more with every session. One morning we start training late as Midnight does her daily inspection "You trainees are progressing well… beyond what I thought you would. Now as you know the Grand Galloping Gala is coming in only two weeks. While we can't have you guarding the castle and the princess personally on your first shift, you will be doing patrols all over Canterlot and even Underlot-" Midnight looks at me at the mention of Underlot "-during the night. A big task due to all the agitation going on throughout Canterlot at the moment." Midnight looks at one of the scrawny pegasi who we call 'scrap' due to his bad luck with equipment. "We hope you're up to the task" For a scrawny pony scrap has big balls and he stands eye to eye with Midnight and says "You damn well know we are… Ma'am" Midnight smiles at his response "Good to hear… Now I hope you can back that up in training." Midnight whistles and our opponents file out form the castle. This time it is fully fledged unicorns in Royal Guard armour "Now these Stallions from the west wall have given up their time to help us with training! Don't disappoint me!" A couple of the royal guards snicker with each other "Let's see what Starlights harem have for us this year…" A pony with a pegasi feather in his helmet calls to his comrades "Five bits on a minute 10!" Another of the royal guards replies with "Only if I got seven bits on 50 seconds!" I stand next to my earth pony partner. Over the last few weeks I learned his name to be Wild Prancer. "You ready Wild?" I touch foreheads with him and we line up in front of the barrage. Midnight calls out "READY!, FIRE!"

The stream of magic punches into my shield, but by now I know how to keep my hooves. I flap for my life as I holster onto Wild. The stream is harder than the volunteers we usually receive but I hold position with Wild. Twenty seconds and I begin to sweat, thirty and I can feel a slight burn in my legs. By forty seconds I hear one of the guards call out. "Weak as piss, that's what all these Underlot ponies are, they'll fall any second now." I don't even know why but this statement angers me. I flap harder and begin to push back the stream of magic. One more push and I tumble the momentum in my favor. I barrel forward into the unicorn and he falls backward onto his side from the impact. I am full of adrenaline form my victory and slam my shield onto the ground in a taunt to the other Unicorns. I look at the line "Weak as piss huh? I'll be coming for my seven bits later!" I turn back to my team expecting cheers and applause but all I get is a furious Midnight Starlight. "GET BACK IN FORMATION STORM CHASER!" I walk back to my line; Wild looks excited for me but is keeping a straight face. When I'm in position again Midnight walks up to me and gets right into my face "I don't know what kind of bucking bullshit you think you're pulling here but you'll be sweeping floors at this rate for the rest of your career." She leaves and is replaced by one of the unicorns "We haven't been knocked on our flank by a trainee in years… Here, you won the bet." Seven bits fall my way and I place them into my pouch. Midnight is looking our way and questions the unicorns "I thought you would all be mad, I can't believe Storm disrespected you like that!" The unicorn with the feather in his helmet smiles at me "Storm won the bet…" Midnight looks at me with angry eyes I hold up my hooves "Hey, I'm not turning down seven bits!" Midnight sighs and her mood changed to the castle guide I met on my first day, she chuckles and I take a step closer to her "Just to make it up to you how about I buy you lunch?" Midnight look around at all her comrades surrounding her and she blushes. "U-um…" She snaps back to her teacher mode "ONLY to make up for embarrassing me you got that?!" When I nod she turns to the group "That's all for this morning! Clean up and meet for personal protection training this afternoon!" She then walks into the castle and I'm left with the unicorns of the west wall, they all look towards me and I pump my hoof, calling out "SCORE!" Laughter erupts in the yard and I hoof bump the guard with the feather in his helmet.

An hour later I'm out on the streets of Canterlot with Midnight. Celestia's sun above shines down on Canterlot and a light breeze cools ponies in the street. I follow Midnight as she trots down the road looking for a particular café that is her favorite. We travel down a alleyway and find a small café tucked away into a building. We sit down at a table and Midnight takes off her helmet, letting her deep purple mane drop. I only wear some saddlebags that contain my bits and I look dull in comparison to the glinting, perfectly polished armour of Midnight. I look at her eyes and for once I don't know what to say as a pony wearing an apron walks over to our table. "Good to see you Midnight! I haven't seen you in months! -" The pony wearing the apron looks much like Midnight, in fact she looks so similar I guess they are related. _The coats the same but her eyes don't have that mystic glow…_ "And who is this you brought with you?" Midnight look at me and I introduce myself "I'm Storm Chaser, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name… Miss?" The pony giggles "Mrs. unfortunately… I am Amethyst Starlight, I'm Midnight's mother." I put on my most charming smile "I thought so, you two are very similar. I'm pleased to meet you Mrs. Starlight" Amethyst's horn glows and a notepad comes out the apron pocket. "Just call me Amethyst, darling… Now what would you two like?" I decide to order a daisy sandwich and a cup of apple tea. Before she leaves Amethyst says "You be careful with this one Midnight! He's a charmer…" She then says as she leaves "Much like your father…" Once Amethyst leaves I turn to Midnight "So that's why you brought me here…" Midnight laughs nervously "Yeah, this is where I grew up… Right under the shadow of the castle." The rest of lunch is just small talk, accompanied by a tasty daisy sandwich. Near the end of our lunch midnight says "Even though I can't say it in front of the other trainees, thanks for standing up for us today. Those Unicorns think I just raise a bunch of soft fillies each year and they really get on my nerves about it." I smile taking a sip of my tea using my wing _Seriously how do earth ponies lift the cups?_ "And now they're buying you lunch…" She laughs, "I guess they are…" Our lunch passes in silence from then on. I take to looking into the street at the ponies walking by. Almost every one of them is a unicorn. Midnight draws her attention form her lunch to ask "So why did you join the Royal Guards Storm?"

I open my mouth to answer but we both hear something. A scream pierces the alley and Midnights eyes open wide. "MUM!" She darts off from the table and, hopping the counter she bursts through a door in the back. I follow close behind; the inside of the house is small. One living room, a kitchen attached and some rooms upstairs. Midnights runs up the stairs, I take a wing powered leap and skip the stairs altogether. Muffled voices come from a room at the end of the hallway. I reach the door first and stop. Midnight stops just in front of me and I hover just near the top. Cocking my back legs back I buck towards the door.

"Finally! Some action!" The crystal pony claps his front hooves together. "The rest of it was just talking… UGH!" Everypony in the Mess Hall is listening intently at the story as the wind continues to blow outside the hall. The other crystal pony ignores his partner and turns towards Storm "So what was inside that room? Surely somepony wouldn't do anything illegal during the middle of the day?" I look towards my crowd "Well… You would be mistaken…"

BAM! The door crashes open and Midnight runs into the room, right into the magic of a waiting unicorn. I loop into the room and crash into the unicorn, he falls and I right myself to asses the situation. Inside the room is three ponies and Amethyst along with who I assume is Midnights father. _I can see who midnight got her eyes from_ Those eyes glow with energy much like Midnights but now, they're an energy of fear. The three ponies, two pegasi and an earth pony are holding down Midnights parents, one of the pegasi is covering Amethysts mouth as she tries to call out to us. "Damn it! You didn't say that there would be guards around!" The earth pony calls out to the unicorn with a deep Underlot accent "I didn't know they would be around!" replies the unicorn with a typical high Canterlot accent. One of the pegasi holding down Amethyst says, shaking "We should go… They might be nice to us." Midnight chuckles "Oh, no… That wont be happening… Not after you try to ponynapp my parents." I hear the Pegasus gulp, Midnight turns to me for support. Something doesn't seem right about this situation and I look at the unicorn "Middle of the day… Lunch time for that matter, you decide to come rob a house why?" The unicorn's eyes open wide "What, rob the house? How did you know?" Everypony is looking at me now. I look at the ponies in the room, the surrounds… "Jewels… That what I'd come for… Canterlot's fit to burst of them easy to steal and easy to sell… Besides let me reiterate with you… Middle of the day, lunchtime for that matter and you want to ponynapp these two? Now I know you must be stupid to rob the house now but ponynapp? No way… " I take a step towards the pegasi now and he inches backwards, I'm on a roll so I continue "So you three? Two pegasi and an earth pony… What street do you live on in underlot fellas?" The unicorn stand mouth agape, his crime is now totally forgotten. I turn to him "And what family do you come from Unicorn! I wonder who's parents I'm gonna have to write to? No wait let me ask you… WHY? You would have all the bits in the world! Why rob an innocent Café owner?" The unicorn blows his mane out of his eyes. "I don't have to tell you!" Midnight walks up to him and growls in his face "I think it's in your best interest to answer his questions before we lock you up for the rest of your life." I walk over to the group of ponies and they thankfully, give over Mr. and Mrs. Starlight peacefully. The unicorn doesn't even take notice of Midnight. "I don't have to talk to you." I lead Mr and Mrs Starlight out of the room and down outside. They are shocked but Mr Starlight thanks me for my help. Midnight comes our a few minutes later with the three ponies. I turn to Mrs Starlight and ask, "Do you know them?" She flinches before answering, "I know the unicorn… His parents come here for lunch sometimes." I know watch Mrs Starlight closely as soon as she answers my question her eyes turn blank, unblinking and unmoving Mrs Starlight stares at a wall between us all. Mr Starlight is staring at his hooves. I grab them both and take them over to a table. Once they are sat down I take a seat and ask them "Are you both ok? Truly?" They just nod I can see in their blank eyes that something's not right "I don't believe you…But it's not up to me to talk about it." I walk over to Midnight and tap on her shoulder. "Hey, I'll take over here but you need to talk to your parents… They're in shock and wont talk to me." Midnight looks over to her parents sitting at the table and sighs. "Ok, thanks Storm for it all." Midnight hugs me around the neck, she smells like the castle and my hearts jumps a couple of times. I return the hug, trying to forget my thoughts. "Go on I'll take over here."

I can see a couple of guards making their way down the street along with a cart. Accompanying them are a couple of the trainees including my formation partner who is helping to pull the cart. It is nice to see a few friendly faces as a unicorn that I don't recognize walks up to me. "Are these the ponies in question?" I nod "They were caught red hoofed trying to rob this café behind me while holding the café owners hostage. Thankfully the hostages were given over peacefully." I unicorn turns to the others "Alright stallions! Chuck them in the back!" Before he leaves I bring over the unicorn again "Is you want to rough any of them throw that unicorn around. He's the mastermind and if he's smart he'll cough up the name of his parents to bail him out before he gets in too much trouble." The unicorn raises his brow "How do you know they'll bail him out?" I give one more wave toward Midnight who returns the wave before I walk with the unicorn "High class unicorn, judging from his accent you probably wouldn't need to go far from the castle to find his parents." The cart rumbles along the road as many ponies stare. The unicorn walks alongside me as we travel with the rest of the ponies in a guarding formation around the cart. "Funny how a Pegasus knows so much about unicorn politics." I chuckle "When you went to magic school you quickly learnt which snobby brat not to hit in case you get royally fucked up later." The unicorn looks at me now "Local?" I nod "Underlot." The unicorn whistles, "You got to have big balls to be a guard nowadays when coming from Underlot." I reply with a smirk "Thanks for noticing…" He shakes his head "A mouth like that? Yep you're from Underlot."


End file.
